About Literary Networks

Literary Networks is a digital humanities project originating at Washington and Lee University (W&L).

A framework for this initiative is the evolving nature of literary journals, especially the type known as "little magazines” that function as the places where most poetry and short stories are first published. Our starting point in this project is Shenandoah, a literary journal published since 1950 by W&L.

As a liberal arts college W&L is especially interested in the ways that DH methodologies and faculty research agendas integrate with undergraduate teaching and student learning outcomes.

The Thomas H. Carter (’54) collection and archival manuscripts in the Shenandoah collection serve as a springboard for establishing an undergraduate Digital Humanities pedagogy in literary studies that can be applied to many literary domains, particularly marginalized areas, as well as extending to other areas of the humanities.

A DH-based research agenda on the networks within literary publishing will unveil lessons about the evolution of little magazines that impact the current generation of literary outlets that bring new voices to the public.

authors, editors & translators

How do we?

This is a project in literary history only in so far as it unveils lessons about publishing that can be used to understand our current era. While my research agenda ostensibly examines the networks within literary publishing through the evolution of little magazines during the 20th century, I do so with a primary interest towards the present day.